ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia coach Kirby Smart, on the cusp of playing Alabama for the SEC title on Saturday, delivers a sheepish grin when asked if he has any childhood memories of the last time Georgia went undefeated in the regular season (1982) or won the national title (1980).
Smart grew up the middle child of Sonny and Sharon Smart, a coach-teacher husband-wife tandem who hopscotched through the South to follow Sonny’s coaching jobs. That meant Kirby grew up outside Montgomery, Alabama, and wasn’t in tune during his early childhood years when the Bulldogs last won the sport’s biggest prize.